Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
"Star Maker" is a science fiction narrative that follows an English protagonist, known only as "I," who embarks on an extraordinary journey through time and space. Initially comfortable in his suburban life, he becomes increasingly apprehensive about global tensions, particularly the rise of the Nazis. This unease is quickly overshadowed when he experiences a cosmic odyssey that takes him beyond Earth. During his travels, he encounters diverse alien civilizations, each presenting unique societal structures and philosophical insights, often serving as reflections or satirical critiques of humanity.
The journey explores themes of interconnectedness and individuality, revealing how collective effort among rational beings leads to better outcomes than isolation. I witnesses both the beauty and tragedy of various worlds, including those where civilizations have self-destructed and others that thrive in harmony. His exploration culminates in a profound encounter with the Star Maker, a representation of a universal creator that transcends human emotions and understands existence at a fundamental level. After this mind-altering experience, I returns to his mundane life, now more aware of the vastness and complexity of the universe, while his country stands on the brink of World War II. The narrative invites readers to reflect on the nature of existence, the significance of connection, and the quest for understanding amidst chaos.
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Subject Terms
Star Maker
First published: 1937
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—cosmic voyage
Time of work: 1937, then into the fourth dimension
Locale: From England to the end and beginning of the universe
The Plot
The hero of Star Maker is an Englishman, known only as “I.” Comfortably married, he lacks passionate commitment. He is apprehensive of the rise of the Nazis in Germany, but the world situation pales against the cosmic panorama that soon engulfs him. From a hill near his suburban home, he is transported on a night journey into the sky. This expands to become an odyssey through time and space, to the alpha and omega points of the universe itself. First, he glimpses Earth from space, opalescent against a spangled ebony backdrop.
I discovers that through “sub-atomic power,” interstellar travels, rather than mere interplanetary excursions, are possible. He encounters many and varied alien beings. Some of their societies offer satirical perspectives on human ones. On an Earth-like planet, with a similar though still divergent evolutionary process, I meets Other Men whose genitals are equipped with taste organs. Their intense sexuality is sometimes sublimated by their mystics into a vigorous gustatory experience of God.
I’s travels continue through thousands of worlds, each with its singularities. He confronts “ichthyoids,” who are artistic and mystical creatures living symbiotically among “arachnoids,” who perform the engineering feats essential for mutual survival. Elsewhere, there are intelligent fish on planets composed entirely of crystal seas, and rational winged beings with brilliant plumage. Sometimes, a host of individual bodies possess a single intellect, or a planet may itself be an asserting consciousness. On larger heavenly bodies, several different civilizations are shown to have developed separately before making common cause after a tumultuous industrialization. Rational beings working together seem always to fare better than those who struggle alone.
Manifold stellar tragedies are revealed. Some worlds have blown themselves to bits. Others are rival empires or insane ones. Segments of the universe are in contact through “telepathic intercourse,” and other regions exist in forbidding isolation. Unremitting agony reigns in one spot, but elsewhere, plantlike intelligences radiate mystical quietism. Worlds are discovered where the Creator seems to have experienced incarnations and crucifixions, choosing to share the joys and hurts of its creatures. Even more worlds bear witness to a Hindu-like universal force, simultaneously manifested as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer.
I appears to discern two drives propelling the multiform universe: All beings seek to discover their place in an overall cosmic harmony, and all strive for some understanding of their existence. His pilgrimage culminates when he finally confronts the dazzling God beyond all gods, the Star Maker, in which all contradictions are resolved and all questions reduced to absurdity. Awe and overwhelming adoration are the response of the creature, but the Great Spirit is beyond all love or anger, impassively contemplating life in its varying levels of imperfection.
Although momentarily blinded by his vision of the Star Maker, both beatific and horrific, I happily awakes back home in England. His wife waits patiently for him as his country braces for World War II.